baseballfandomcom-20200222-history
May 11
1800s *1897 - In National League action, Washington Senators catcher Duke Farrell set a major league record by throwing out eight Baltimore Orioles runners trying to steal second base. The Senators lost anyway 6–3. 1900s *1904 - Cy Young's 23-inning no-hit string ended. The streak included two innings on April 25, six on April 30, a perfect game against the Philadelphia Athletics on May 5, and six innings today. 1910s *1919: **Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators pitched 12 scoreless innings in a duel with Jack Quinn of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds. Johnson allowed only two hits and retired 28 batters in a row. Future football star George Halas, batting leadoff for the Yankees, went 0-for-5, striking out twice. **Hod Eller of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a no-hitter to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-0. Eller struck out eight and walked three. 1920s *1923 - Setting several Pacific Coast League records, Pete Schneider of the Vernon Tigers hit five home runs and a double with 14 RBI in a 35-11 romp over Salt Lake City. *1924 - Moses Fleetwood Walker, credited as the first black to play professional baseball at the major league level, died in Cleveland, Ohio, at the age of 67. Walker made his historic debut in 1884, when he played in 42 games for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association. 1930s *1932: **Wild Bill Hallahan of the St. Louis Cardinals tied a major league record by uncorking three wild pitches in one inning in the 12th-innings, 6–3 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers. **1932 - Eighth-grader Joe Schultz, Jr. singled, stole second and third bases, and scored a run as a pinch-hitter in a Texas league game. The fourteen-year old, who is the son of former big leaguer Joe (Germany) Schultz, will become a catcher and manager in the major leagues. 1940s *1944 - Hal Trosky stole home in the 16th inning, helping the Chicago White Sox to a 4–2 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics. Trosky, not known for his base stealing ability, had missed the previous two seasons with severe migraine headaches. *1946 - In front of the largest crowd in 13 years, the New York Giants defeated the Boston Braves, 5–1, in the first night game played at Braves Field. The 37,407 fans were surprised as their hometown heroes entered the field wearing shiny satin uniforms designed to reflect the light generated by electricity used for the evening contest. *1949 - Scoring in every inning, the Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 12–8, at Comiskey Park. A team tallying in every inning has only occurred five times in American League history. 1950s *1950: **Connecticut Senator Abe Ribicoff introduced legislation for the observance of a National Baseball Day. **A train strike forced many teams to fly to their next scheduled games. Travelling by air was still a rarity in the major leagues at this time. *1955 - Ernie Banks hit a grand slam – the first of five on the year – to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 10–8 victory that snapped the Brooklyn Dodgers' 11-game winning streak. 1960s *1963 - Sandy Koufax pitched the second of four career no-hitters to help the Los Angeles beat San Francisco 8–0. 1970s *1971 - Steve Dunning of the Cleveland Indians became the last American League pitcher to hit a grand slam before the designated hitter rule. Dunning's homer off Diego Segui of the Oakland Athletics gave the Indians a 5–0 lead, but reliever Phil Henningan got the victory as the Indians won 7–5. In 1973, the American League will adopt the DH rule, which results in pitchers almost never coming to bat. *1972 - The New York Mets acquired veteran outfielder Willie Mays from the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000. Three days later, the future Hall of Famer will hit a game-winning home run against the Giants in his Mets’ debut. *1977 - Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner decided to take the managerial reigns of his team, which has lost 16 straight games. The Braves lose their 17th in a row in Turner’s debut, as coach Vern Benson made most of the strategical decisions. After the game, the National League removed Turner as manager, citing a rule that prevents an owner from doubling as manager. 1980s *1980 - 39-year-old Pete Rose stole second base, third, and home in one inning for the Phillies. The last National League player to pull this feat was Jackie Robinson in 1954. *1984 - The Detroit Tigers improved their record to 26-4 with an 8–2 victory over the California Angels and established a new record for the best 30-game start in major league history, eclipsing the 25-5 mark set by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955. 1990s *1990 - Dave Winfield rejected a trade that would have sent him from the New York Yankees to the California Angels in exchange for pitcher Mike Witt. A no-trade clause in Winfield’s contract gave him the right to turn down the deal. Five days later, Winfield will reach an agreement with the Yankees and give his permission for the trade to take place. *1996 - Al Leiter pitched the first no-hitter in Florida Marlins brief history. Leiter stroke out six and walked two batters to beat the Colorado Rockies, 11–0. *1998 - Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs set the major league record for strikeouts in consecutive games (33) by fanning 13 Arizona Diamondbacks in a 4–2 victory. The record for strikeouts in two starts had been 32, set by Luis Tiant in 1968 and matched by Nolan Ryan (1974), Dwight Gooden (1984) and Randy Johnson (1997). *1999 - For the first time in the 20th century, two starting pitchers in major league baseball shared the same name as the Colorado Rockies left hander Bobby M. Jones faced right hander Bobby J. Jones and the New York Mets at Coors Field. B.M. defeated B.J. and the Mets, 8–5. 2000s *2000: **The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs, 14–8, in the longest nine-inning game in National League history: four hours, 22 minutes. The teams tied the major league record set in the American League by Baltimore and the Yankees on September 5, 1997. **At the age of 37, Florida Marlins pitcher Joe Strong became the oldest player to make his major league debut since pitcher Diomedes Olivo debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960 as 41-year old. **Manny Ramírez hit a first-inning grand slam and added a two-run home run in the sixth to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 16–0 rout of the Kansas City Royals. The victory, which stopped Kansas City's winning streak at five games, is Cleveland's most lopsided shutout in 45 years when the Indians crushed the Boston Red Sox 19–0. *2001 - After another dreadful appearance yesterday in which Rick Ankiel threw five wild pitches, the Cardinals sent the promising young fireballer to Triple-A Memphis to work on overcoming his unexplainable lack of control. The left-hander has walked 25 batters in 24 innings this season. *2003: **Rafael Palmeiro of the Texas Rangers became the 19th player to join the 500 home run club. In a 17–10 win, Palmeiro hit a full-count fastball into the right field stands off Cleveland Indians right-hander David Elder. **Amidst of criticism of his handling of pitchers due the rash of recent injuries to the team's young arms, the Florida Marlins fired manager Jeff Torborg. Jack McKeon, who has previously managed Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego and Cincinnati, will take over a 16-22 team becoming the franchise's sixth skipper. *2004: **In Massachusetts, Pittsfield city officials and historians released 1791 bylaw which they believe is the earliest written reference to baseball. The 213-year-old document, used protect the windows in town’s new meeting house by prohibiting anyone from playing baseball within 80 yards of the building, was uncovered by baseball historian John Thorn while doing research on the origins of baseball. **At Fenway Park, Manny Ramírez of the Boston Red Sox lead his teammates out of the dugout waving an American flag to celebrate his first day as a citizen of the United States. As the 31-year native Dominican Republic came to bat, the song America by Neil Diamond was played over the PA system. *2005 - The Boston Red Sox ended a game for the second consecutive day by hitting a walk-off home run off the same pitcher, a feat only accomplished five previous times in major league history. Oakland Athletics closer Octavio Dotel, who gave up the decisive blast to Kevin Millar yesterday, is victimized today by Jason Varitek in the bottom of the ninth inning, to beat Oakland, 6–5. *2006 - Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees broke his left wrist and his consecutive-games streak ended in the Boston Red Sox 5–3 victory at Yankee Stadium. Going back to his days in Japanese baseball, he appeared in 1,768 consecutive games. Matsui had played in 518 consecutive games (a record for the start of a career) since joining the Yankees in 2003 after playing in 1,250 straight for the Yomiuri Giants from August 22, 1993, through 2002. Births *1903 - Charlie Gehringer, Hall of Fame catcher (d. 1993) *1907 - Rip Sewell, All-Star pitcher (d. 1989) *1920 - Gener Hermanski, outfielder *1922 - Nestor Chylak, Hall of Fame umpire *1922 - Monte Kennedy, pitcher *1928 - Vern Rapp, manager *1939 - Milt Pappas, All-Star pitcher *1939 - Frank Quilici, manager *1949 - Jerry Martin, outfielder *1950 - Dane Iorg, outfielder *1958 - Walt Terrell, pitcher *1958 - Mark Huismann, pitcher *1964 - Trenidad Hubbard, outfielder *1964 - Floyd Youmans, pitcher *1964 - Jeff Sellers, pitcher *1964 - Bobby Witt, pitcher *1964 - Billy Bean, outfielder *1971 - Kerry Ligtenberg, pitcher *1975 - Francisco Cordero, All-Star pitcher Deaths *1887 - John Ake, OF/IF (b. 1861) *1895 - Bud Teachout, pitcher (b. 1904) *1924 - Moses Fleetwood Walker, catcher (b. 1856) *1937 - Nick Scharf, OF/IF (b. 1858) *1938 - Buzz Murphy, outfielder (b. 1895) *1953 - Ed Hug, catcher (b. 1880) *1954 - Dorsey Riddlemoser, pitcher (b. 1875) *1961 - Lee Dunham, infielder (b. 1902) *1968 - Dan Boone, pitcher (b. 1895) *1971 - Jeff McCleskey, infielder (b. 1891) *1972 - Lynn King, outfielder (b. 1907) *1972 - Danny Schell, pitcher (b. 1927) *1972 - Suds Sutherland, pitcher (b. 1894) *1977 - Johnnie Chambers, pitcher (b. 1911) *1977 - Oscar Horstmann, pitcher (b. 1891) *1981 - Sammy Byrd, outfielder (b. 1907) *1984 - Earl Reid, pitcher (b. 1913) *1985 - Bud Teachout, pitcher (b. 1904) *1985 - Johnny Bero, infielder (b. 1922) *1994 - Bennie Warren, catcher (b. 1912) *1997 - Vince Sherlock, infielder (b. 1910) *1999 - Ben Taylor, infielder (b. 1924) *2002 - Steve Rachunok, pitcher (b. 1916)